1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ball pitching machine, and more particularly to a three-axis adjustment ball pitching machine for throwing balls, such as baseballs, softballs, or tennis balls in various desired directions or trajectories.
2. Description of Related Art
Practice is important and required for a player to become proficient at most sports. For baseball, softball or tennis, pitching machines are especially useful training aids for players to practice their skills of striking or catching balls. For baseball and softball practice, a player needs to practice both hitting and fielding. A pitching machine throws continuously balls toward a target area where a player hits the balls to practice hitting techniques. In addition, the pitching machines can also be used for fielders to practice catching fly balls or ground balls.
A conventional ball pitching machine comprises a pitching assembly and a supporting chassis. The pitching assembly is mounted on the supporting chassis and throws the balls. Positions of the pitching assembly are adjustable relative to the supporting chassis so that the balls can be accurately thrown toward the target area.
However, the conventional pitching machine only allows small elevation adjustments for the pitching assembly relative to the supporting chassis. Therefore, the target area for the balls is narrow because of the one-dimensional adjustment of the pitching assembly. The narrow target area cannot provide a great diversity of trajectories of the balls for the player to hit or catch the balls. The conventional pitching machine cannot simulate an actual pitcher throwing the balls for the batters to develop their techniques. Thus it is clear that the existing pitching machines do not provide adequate practice for players.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a three-axis adjustment ball pitching machine to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.